AS & A2 English Linguistics

SuttonGrammar School for Boys

ADVANCED LEVEL ENGLISH LINGUISTICS

1701 & 2701

I

f you have elected to study at advanced level, you have undertaken to spend a fair amount of your time acquiring knowledge. This may sound rather dull, at first, but it’s not like that at all. Of course, if you are determined, you will find that your instinct to play down your natural desire to learn was the right one; if not, you could open up a whole new world for yourself. After all, you won’t be a teenager forever…and you have something very few people have: feed it! How? Here are some ideas.

Try to stay ahead of the game. This isn’t just a cheesy Hollywood sentiment: When people (teachers, parents, universities, yourself) are praising you rather than nagging you, life is much more fun and rewarding. You’ll be surprised.

Speak your mind. You are producing more ideas more quickly than could possibly be assessed or evaluated by anyone…certainly in writing. The only way you can hope to find out how good your ideas are, how you could develop them or how other people think about the same things is to speak about them: a truism, perhaps, but a valuable resource in the pursuit of your intellectual maturation.

Be aware of language. Language is the closest you’ll ever get to telepathy. That is why people do it so much – without it, we would be very lonely. So, in one form or another, language surrounds you constantly. Recognise it, respond to it, and think about it. Language is also structured: like any tool, it works in a way that is guided by principles and rules. If you have a desire to understand what those rules are and how you can use them to colour your interaction with the people around you, you have a duty to yourself to learn about the structures and systems that control communication.

Learn to structure your language deliberately. This piece of writing has been designed to do more than keep you reading. It is trying to speak to you, to consider your fears and hopes – all the things your teachers in Years 9 and 10 taught you advertisements were playing on – and certain choices have been deliberately made to achieve that. Can you spot them? More interestingly, can you make them? Past students’ suggestions: “Analyse sections of randomly chosen texts”. “Ask for clarification of any terms you do not understand”. That leads us onto the next point.

Keep track of the terminology. Most of the work is strongly text based. This means that your formal learning of the systematic frameworks that form the core of the subject will occur when the texts being studied provide suitable opportunities. The study is not structured according to the frameworks, so you will have to keep careful notes or else you may be unable to find the information when you need it to apply to homework and class essays. Start to make a terms list at the beginning of the course. If you use it to keep track of the ideas and terminology you learn, you will find yourself in possession of a powerful tool for accessing and revising what you have learnt. A past student makes the following suggestion: “Ask for definitions and examples and check that you are able to write them down in a way that makes sense to you”. A structure of the Frameworks will be shown to you very early on.

Take notes during lesson: you should have block of note paper available all the time. For the same reasons, you will find a ring binder with dividers (one per module might be a start) invaluable.

Work in terms of the AOs. It is the policy of the Linguistics department that all marking be done in accordance with the Assessment Objectives. To this end, you will be given a copy of the mark schemes, if not before the first assignment then with the first marked assignment when it is returned. There are four of these and they have different weightings at different times of the course.

The diagram on the penultimate page of this guide represents the factors that influence a text. You will study all of them at various times in the course.

AS Study Guide

The assessment objectives for AS are:

AO1: Select and apply a range of linguistic methods, to communicate relevant knowledge using appropriate terminology and coherent, accurate written expression. (26.7% overall weighting)

AO2: Demonstrate critical understanding of a range of concepts and issues related to the construction and analysis of meaning in spoken and written language, using knowledge of linguistic approaches. (20% overall weighting; not used in Unit2)

AO3: Analyse and evaluate the influence of contextual factors on the production and reception of spoken and written language, showing knowledge of the key constituents of language. (33.3% overall weighting)

AO4: Demonstrate expertise and creativity in the use of English in a range of different contexts, informed by linguistic study. (20% overall weighting; not used for Unit 1)

AS Unit 1: Seeing Through Language

60% of the total AS marks Examination: 2 hours 90 marks

The unit is designed to:

  • Introduce the study of the modes of language.
  • Teach you to use core variation concepts: audience, purpose, field, genre and mode.
  • Lead you to explore how language is used in written, spoken and electronic forms.
  • Explore how children learn language and how it is linked to cognition.
  • Examine how children are able to understand and express themselves through language.

Assessment objective / 1 / 2 / 3 / Total
Language analysis / 20 / 20 / 20 / 60
Language issues / 5 / 20 / 25

The structure of the unit

You will be required to answer two questions. You will answer QuestionOne from Section A: Language and Mode (45 minutes) and one out of two from Section B: Language Development (45 minutes).*

*The unit allows 30 minutes for the reading and preparation of the data to be analysed in answering section A.

Section A Language Analysis

  • You will be asked to work on two examples of language in use.
  • The data may be written mode or spoken mode (including transcripts of conversational language).
  • It may also be electronic.
  • You are required to use the linguistic frameworks to distinguish and describe key features of the language style in terms of sound features, vocabulary and meaning, grammar and structure, as appropriate.
  • You will have to explain and interpret the language of textsfocusing on the how they are affected by context of use, and mode. You may also have to comment on the way the texts represent people, groups and events.
  • You will be asked to explore how the language uses use language to convey meanings
  • Guidance will be given in the rubric of the question to help you focus on particular aspects of the data.

Section B Language Development

This section will test your ability to engage with important language issues about the acquisition and use of spoken and written language.

One question will be set on each of the following topics:

  • initial language acquisition
  • Children’s writing

You will be required to answer one of them.

Questions will be divided into parts (a) and (b) to help you organise your answer. You will be asked to

  • Comment linguistically on a small piece of data from children’s speech (or writing, depending on the question you choose)
  • Write discursively in response to an essay cue question based on issues raised by the data.

AS Unit 2: Using Language

40% of the total AS marks Coursework 40 marks

This unit will be assessed through course work.

The coursework is designed test your ability to:

  • Develop your ability to write for a variety of specific audiences and purposes.
  • Explore the key ideas of representation and ideology.
  • Draw on the key concepts of use-related variation.
  • Develop your ability to use the linguistic Frameworks.

In the unit you will produce both analytical and creative work to explore

  • How texts produce representations of people institutions and events
  • How they help to produce, reproduce or challenge social values and attitudes.

Question / Length / AO1 / AO2 /

AO3

/

AO4

/

Total

  1. Language Investigation
/ 1000 – 1500 words / 10
(6.7%) /

20

(13.3%) /

30

(20%)
  1. Language Production and Commentary
/ 600 plus 400 words / 30
(20%) / 30
(20%)
AS unit total / 2000 - 2500 / 10
(6.7%) / 20
(13.3%) / 30
(20%) / 60
(40%)
A Level Total / (3.3%) / (6.7%) / (20%) / (20%)

Subject content

  1. Analysis: Investigation and representations. (1000 – 1500 words)

Here, you must analyse between three and five texts, exploring how they might produce social values and contribute to maintaining or changing them. You will have to choose texts that represent one of the following

  • social groups (eg according to gender, disability, age)
  • individuals (eg a celebrity, a dictator)
  • events and issues (eg a war, work, death)
  • institutions (eg the justice system, the monarchy)

The focus is on how lexis, grammar, semantics and discourse structure in particular texts represent their subjects. This entails using the linguistic Frameworks. Also you must explore

  • purposes of the writer
  • author identity and how it is developed
  • the construction of the ideal reader and the shaping of his response
  • representation of the subject as one of the above
  • likely or alternative audience interpretations
  • the role played by genre

The texts you analyse should have a temporal relationship between them. That is, they should either be produced at approximately the same time, have the same subject matter followed in its development over a period, or have been produced at very different times. In other words, time should be a factor in the way the texts are written.

  1. Producing representations (600 words).

This part involves producing an original piece of writing of your own. It may not be an academic essay but must belong to a clear genre. You should state the audience, purpose and place of publication and these should be appropriate to the genre. You will have to write in such a way as to make a “positive intervention” in the discourse about:

  • social groups (eg according to gender, disability, age)
  • individuals (eg a celebrity, a dictator)
  • events and issues (eg a war, work, death)
  • institutions (eg the justice system, the monarchy)

“Positive intervention” means that you can present your ‘target’ in such a way as to either challenge or create a sense of the way others ‘see’ it.

The commentary (400 words)

In the commentary, you discuss the linguistic techniques you used to achieve the representation you did. The idea is that you use what you have discovered about writing in the first part of the coursework to develop your own texts. Thus, while you are making these choices, you should keep careful linguistic notes of what you decide on and why you decide to write it the way you do. The key features you will have to use are

  • audience
  • purpose
  • field
  • mode
  • genre

Your writing does not have to literary i.e. fictional but may take the form of a ‘factual’ piece such as newspaper or travel writing.

In summary, the balance of importance of the Assessment Objectives is as follows:

  • AO1: 20% in Unit 1 (the examination). In the coursework, it is worth 6.7% of the marks. In total, it adds up to 26.7% of an AS
  • AO2: worth 20% in Unit 1
  • AO3: worth 20% in Unit 1 and 13.3% in Unit 2: 33.3% towards an AS
  • AO4: worth 20% in Unit 2
  • Units 1 is worth 60% of the AS
  • Unit 2 is worth 40% of the AS

Specimen Questions

The data are not included with the questions. Instead, some idea of what it is has been given.

The standard – and strongly recommended – method of analysing language is the Analytical Sentence. You will not be surprised to find that this is a carbon copy of the Point, Quotation, Explanation pattern of argument that you were taught in G.C.S.E. Of course, there will be a few refinements to the technique but the skills you learnt in your early study of English are about to come into their own.

Advanced Subsidiary examination paper

Unit 1: ENGA1 – Seeing Through Language

Section A – Language and Mode

Answer Question 1

0 / 1

Text A is an internet dialogue conducted via MSN Messenger. The participants are Pam and her son Max who is in Rome visiting a friend’s family before returning to Britain.

Text B is the introduction to the Lonely Planet tourist guide to Rome.

  • Identify and describe the main mode characteristics of the text.
  • Examine how the participants in Text A and the writer of Text B use language to achieve their purposes and create meanings.

In your answer you should consider:

vocabulary and meanings

grammatical features and their effects

topics and how they are structured

interactive features of language in Text A

how the language of Text B addresses the reader and shapes their response.

45 marks

[Two pages of texts, as described, follow]

Comment: If you have been reading widely, you will have an advantage. There is no substitute for extensive experience of a wide range of texts. Note the extent to which you are required to cover the features of the texts from distinctly linguistic features through features of interaction and context to the contexts in which the texts are created.There is no requirement to compare the texts.

Section B – Language Development

Answer either Question 2or Question 3

EITHER

0 / 2

(a) Read the Data Set 1 below. Comment linguistically on five features of language use which you find of interest.

10 marks

(b) How far do children acquire language skills by imitating adults?

In your answer, you should:

refer to particular linguistic features and contexts

refer to appropriate linguistic research and theory

present a clear line of argument.

(35 marks)

Data Set 1

(Toby is two years old)

[A seventeen line conversation between Toby and his father follows]

OR

0 / 3

(a) Read the Data Set 2 below. Comment linguistically on five features of language use which you find of interest.

10 marks

(b)Examine some of the language issues which arise when children begin to make the transition from spoken to written mode.

In your answer you should:

Refer to particular linguistic features and contexts

Refer to appropriate linguistic theory

Present a clear line of argument.

(35 marks)

Data Set 2

(The writer is aged 4 years and 10 months)

[A set of 7 lines of text follows]

Comment:These are fully structured essays: remember the rules about introduction, conclusion and paragraph structure that you have been taught in G.C.S.E. English as well as what you have been taught about the analytical sentence.

Advanced Level examination paper

Unit 3: ENGA3

Section A – Language Variation and Change

Answer either Question 1 or Question 2

[In this part of the exam, you are being offered the choice between writing about Language Change and Language Variety.]

Question 1

0 / 1

Text A, which you will find below, is an extract from and article published by The Guardian in which Stephen Fry reviews video cameras.

Text B, which you will find on page 3, is from an article published in the Independent about language and new technology.

  • Analyse the ways Text A B uses language to review the video cameras.
  • Referring to Text A, Text B and your own studies, evaluate the idea that new words and meaning are only for labelling new inventions and discoveries.

(45 marks)

[Two pages of texts, as described, follow]

Comment: To begin with, you will have to examine representation but keep this short and focused. The task develops into a discussion of change. You will have examined a range of texts in your study of how language changes over time, and the forces that drive such change. If you have been reading widely, you will have an advantage. There is no substitute for extensive experience of a wide range of texts. Note how the focus is clearly on language change and requires a well supported argument about how language changes. In the second bullet point, clearly, you are expected to demonstrate the extent to which you understand different ways in which language changes. It should go without saying that you must argue from distinctly linguistic, providing, where possible, examples not only from the supplied texts but from your own studies.

Question 2

0 / 2

Text C, which you will find below and on page 5, is an extract from a novel about gang warfare in London.

Text D, which you will find on page 5, is a series of comments by young black people about the use of Black English by their friends and relatives.

  • Analyse how the writer of Text C, uses language to create his characters, their speech and their relationships.
  • Referring to Text C, Text D and your own studies, evaluate the factors affecting people’s use of Black English.

(45 marks)

[Two pages of texts, as described, follow]

Comment: This task may tempt you into slipping back to literary habits of GCSE. Do not. The texts are loaded with examples of non-standard varieties of English and you must focus on these and any contrasts or variations from these to demonstrate the variation in the character presentation. The second bullet point represents the major part of the essay and will have to be based on information you can martial from the classes and your own reading in a wider, more fact-based discussion of sociolinguistic and linguistic factors.

Section B – Language Discourses

Answer Question 3.

Question 3

0 / 3

Read Text E and Text F, which you will find below and on page 7. Text E is an article published in The Independent in 1999. Text F is from the website of the a company called Simply Speaking which offers communication skills training.

  • Analyse and evaluate how these two texts use language to present their ideas about accents.
  • Evaluate these ideas about accents, drawing on your study of language variation.

(45 marks)

[Two pages of texts, as described, follow]

The two texts concern objections to and the teaching of accent.

Comment: Beware of falling into the trap of writing a long discussion of, in this case, are the merits of the prescriptivist and descriptivist views of the writers. Simply observe some of the language that tells you they are being prescriptive or showing some other point of view about the issue of language variation. Then move to a broader discussion of the principle issue(s) raised by the text. Note especially, that the question is primarily about accent – not dialect. However, you might look to expanding your discussion…but beware of making it look like you know a lot about dialect and little about accent and so have had to ‘swing’ the question to suit your knowledge.